This application claims the priority of German application 196 48 736.6, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a ventilation nozzle for vehicle interiors.
In a ventilation nozzle known from French patent document Fr 2 585 637 A1, the air-guide block together with its air-duct register is manufactured from close-pored, foamed elastomer or polymer and fastened to the rear side of the front screen. The adjusting device for adjusting the air-guide block, and hence for changing the air-outflow direction from the ventilation nozzle, has two toothed racks which are aligned at right angles with respect to each other and are fastened to the rear side of the air-guide block. Meshing with the toothed racks are pinion wheels which can be rotated via adjusting wheels, which can be operated manually. A respective adjusting wheel is provided for adjusting the air-exit direction in the vertical plane and in the horizontal plane. If one of the adjusting wheels is rotated, that pinion wheel which is rotated thereby and meshes with the particular toothed rack displaces the vertical or horizontal toothed rack and, in doing so, adjusts the air-guide block in such a manner that the air ducts are positioned, in the vertical plane or horizontal plane, at an angle of inclination with respect to the front screen and, as a result, the air-outflow direction changes. However, in all cases the air flow is linear and hence suitable for flowing directly against windows etc. When flowing towards the vehicle occupants, in contrast, a diffused distribution of air is preferred for reasons of air-conditioning comfort.
An object of the invention is to improve a ventilation nozzle such that in addition to setting the direct outflow direction with a linear air flow, it is also possible to convert the linear air flow into a diffused swirl of air.
According to the invention, this and other objects have been achieved by providing a ventilation nozzle to be mounted to an air-conduction duct of a ventilation or air-conditioning system of a vehicle, comprising: a front screen to be exposed to an interior of the vehicle, said front screen having screen webs which define a plurality of screen openings; an air-guide block made of an elastic material arranged upstream of the front screen, a front side of the air-guide block being biased by a biasing force nonpositively against the screen webs of the front screen, said air-guide block defining a plurality of parallel air ducts passing longitudinally therethrough, said air ducts having a cross-section corresponding to a cross-section of the screen openings; and an adjusting device coupled to the front screen and to the air guide block, said adjusting device being adjustable to displace a rear side of the air guide block which faces away from the front screen approximately parallel to the front screen in at least two orthogonal directions in order to change a flow direction through said air ducts, the adjusting device being adjustable to move the air-guide block counter to the biasing force away from the front screen such that a clearance is defined between the front side of the air-guide block and the front screen.
According to the invention, this and other objects have been achieved by providing a ventilation nozzle for an air-conduction duct of a vehicle, comprising: a front screen having webs which define a plurality of screen openings; an elastic air-guide block arranged adjacent and upstream of the front screen, said air-guide block defining a plurality of parallel air ducts which are aligned with said screen openings at a downstream side of the air-guide block; a control plate fixedly coupled to an upstream side of the air-guide block, said control plate defining a plurality of openings which are aligned with said air ducts at the upstream side of said air-guide block; a control rod defining a longitudinal axis being articulated on said front screen via a first spherical body seated in a cup defined in said front screen, said control member being articulated on said control plate via a second spherical body seated in a cup defined in said control plate, said control rod being displaceable along said axis relative to said first spherical body to displace said second spherical body, said control plate, and said air guide block along said axis relative to said front screen.
The ventilation nozzle according to the invention has the advantage that, as the result of the front side of the air-guide block being raised from the screen webs of the front screen, a space without air-guide elements is formed between the air-guide block and the front screen, in which space the linear air flows emerging from the individual air ducts of the air-guide block swirl together and hence a diffused volume of air exits from the ventilation nozzle. The swirling of the air leaving the ventilation nozzle is further assisted by the front screen through which the volume of air, which has already been swirled, has to flow.
The ventilation nozzle according to the invention can be manufactured at low cost and can be assembled in a simple manner, it being possible for individual nozzles to be combined in a large component without any problem. As regards its design, the front screen may be configured freely without this involving changes to the remaining components, apart from to the shape of the air-duct cross-section in the air-guide block. The front screen may thus be provided, for example, with hexagonal, rectangular, square, round or oval screen openings and may be realized using any desired materials. Behind the front screen, which can be configured freely in terms of design, the technical realization of the ventilation nozzle remains, however, unchanged, with the result that the ventilation nozzle is a standardized component having universal applicability.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention a rigid control plate having a screen structure corresponding to the front screen is fastened to the rear side of the air-guide block. The adjusting device has a rod-shaped control member which is guided through the air-guide block, is mounted in the front screen, bears a hand-operated knob protruding in front of the front screen and is joined in an articulated manner to the control plate. These constructive measures make it possible for the adjusting device for all three adjusting functions, i.e. direct air flow with the air-flow setting in the horizontal direction, direct air flow with the air-flow setting in the vertical direction and diffused ventilation, to manage with just a single control member which has to be pivoted, or axially displaced, in order to bring about the three adjusting functions, it being possible for the axial displacement alternatively to be brought about by axial displacement or rotation of the hand-operated knob.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the front screen and control plate are preferably manufactured from aluminum, and the air-guide block, which is preferably of cellular rubber, is injection-moulded onto the control plate during the manufacturing process.
For the non-positive bearing of the air-guide block against the front screen, according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, at least one spring acts upon the control plate, to be precise, acts upon the control plate preferably in the articulation region of the control member. The at least one spring may be designed as a compression spring supported in a fixed position in the air-conduction stub, or may be designed as a tension spring which is then enclosed in the through-hole in the air-guide block, which through-hole accommodates the control member, and is fitted to the front screen.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the articulated joining of the control member to the control plate and mounting thereof in the front screen are implemented by a respective spherical cup being moulded in the control plate and the front screen, and the two spherical cups, which with their openings face one another, in each case rotatably accommodate one of two spherical bodies arranged on the control member. That spherical cup which is on the front-screen side has a central opening for the passage of the rod-shaped control member. That spherical body which is accommodated axially and undisplaceably in the spherical cup on the front-screen side is seated axially displaceably on the control member. A lock is effective between this spherical body and the control member, which lock retains a relative position, adjusted via the hand-operated knob, of the spherical body and control member. In that spherical cup which is on the front-screen side, it is possible, after the hand-operating knob has been grasped, for the control member to be pivoted radially in all directions for the purpose of adjusting the direct air flow, that spherical body which is accommodated in the spherical cup on the control-plate side converting this pivoting movement into a displacement movement of the control plate in its plane, and hence causing the air-guide block, which is connected fixedly to the control plate, to be deformed. In order to set the diffused ventilation, the control member has to be displaced in the axial direction, as a result of which, via the spherical cup on the control-plate side, the control plate and the air-guide block connected fixedly to said plate are displaced axially and the said air-guide block is raised from the front screen.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the axial displacement of the control member is brought about in that a threaded hole is provided in that spherical body which is accommodated by that spherical cup which is on the front-screen side, into which threaded hole an external threaded section, provided on the control member, is screwed. Rotation of the hand-operated knob about the axis of the control member hence causes the air-guide block to be raised from the front screen so as to produce the diffused ventilation, it being possible for the axial spacing to be adjusted continuously.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.